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13 Apps to Simplify Your Life in the Big City

Life in large cities like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles comes with its own set of complications. Whether it’s traffic or tight living quarters that’s making your life more difficult, there’s always a silver lining: Hundreds of apps exist to solve all your big-city woes, from getting your air conditioning unit installed to carrying your weight in groceries to your sixth-floor walk-up.

By now we’re all acquainted with the classic Seamless, Amazon Prime, and Uber, but there are so many great apps out there that can make many aspects of your life a whole lot easier. Keep scrolling for the most useful apps we found to make our lives better.

Instacart

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Instacart will deliver your groceries within one hour. Need we say more? Oh yes, some of their partners include Whole Foods and Costco—so you can order anything from nonperishables in bulk to fresh organic greens.

Participating cities: Major cities across the U.S.

Postmates

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You’re most likely familiar with Seamless, and maybe even Doordash for your food delivery options. But Postmates takes it a step further, allowing you to order anything from lunch, dinner, groceries, office supplies, or anything else you could possibly think of, all in under one hour.

Participating cities: Major cities across the U.S.

Munchery

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Maybe you don’t feel like ordering from a local restaurant. In that case, Munchery’s got you. Its chefs prepare affordable locally inspired menus daily. Choose from a varied selection of meals, from a superfood kale salad to a South Carolina–style half chicken. The menu changes daily, so you’re never stuck ordering the same dish over and over again.

Participating cities: San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York

Plated

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Living an extremely busy lifestyle is only too common in large cities. Long office hours, children, or a burgeoning social life can easily get us into the habit of ordering in (see above). Plated is determined to change that. By offering preportioned ingredients delivered to you every week, along with corresponding chef-designed recipes, all you need to do is get cooking. Let’s be honest: Isn’t the hardest part of cooking is picking a recipe and dragging yourself to the grocery store?

Participating cities: 95% of the continental U.S.

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Minibar

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Under-one-hour delivery has real appeal for city dwellers, and Minibar is applying it to the wine, spirits, and beer market. Running low on wine at a dinner party? Forgot to BYO? Simply hop on the app and make your order.

Participating cities: Major cities across the U.S.

Via

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We’re all familiar with Uber and Lyft (I for one probably use both a little too much), but Via is a game changer. This ride-share app will pick you up and drop you off within two blocks of your destination at an extremely low price. For instance, you can get anywhere in Manhattan south of 110th Street from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. for $5. I tried it; it really works!

Participating cities: New York and Chicago

Silvercar

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Granted, perhaps not as economical as Via, this app tugs at our efficiency heartstring. With Silvercar, you can easily rent a car—an Audi A4 to be precise—without the hassle of lines or paperwork. Simply use your app to unlock the car. Use it for a weekend getaway with your girlfriends.

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TaskRabbit

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Use TaskRabbit on occasion for any chore or task you don’t have time to do or simply don’t feel like doing: cleaning your apartment, shopping for gifts, dropping off donations, mounting your TV, installing your air conditioner, or even catering your dinner party. Sitting in Central Park on a sunny day, and you suddenly have an urge to play backgammon? Get a tasker to shop for a board and deliver it to you.

Participating cities: 16 major cities across the U.S., including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, San Francisco, Houston, and many more

Hello Alfred

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Take your concierge services one step further by subscribing to Hello Alfred. Starting at $32 per week, your personal concierge will visit on a scheduled day and take care of groceries, laundry, and home cleaning. He’ll even water your plants, in case you forget.

FlyCleaners

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The price to pay to live in a large city like Manhattan is steep, and in many cases, this comes with making concessions like not having a washer/dryer in your apartment. Thankfully, there are apps like FlyCleaners who provide on-demand laundry pickup and delivery within 20 minutes. They probably also do a better job at ironing and folding those stubborn contour sheets.

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Shyp

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Shyp takes care of all your shipping needs, most importantly those less-than-stellar online purchases you need to return. They come to you within 20 minutes and pack your items so you don’t even need to have the original packaging.

Participating cities: San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles

Classpass

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The first step to getting ready is feeling fit and fabulous, and you don’t need to get locked into an expensive gym membership to do that. Get a Classpass starting at $65 a month, and enjoy workout classes all over your city (or even around the world). It’s ideal for joining your girlfriend on that barre class she’s been raving about or for the girl on the go who’s constantly traveling for work.

Participating cities: Major cities across the U.S., Canada, and Australia

Beautified

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Book all your beauty appointments easily with one app. On Beautified, all the spas and salons are hand-picked and vetted, so you can get your blowout or manicure with peace of mind. If those salons are good enough for founder and blogger Hannah Bronfman, they’re good enough for us!

Participating cities: New York

Which apps do you use to streamline your life? Share your wisdom with us in the comments below.